mmilliken@heraldsun.com; 419-6684
DURHAM — A search consultant could be chosen by week’s end to help the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics find its fourth chancellor.
The school is seeking a successor to Gerald Boarman. He recently announced that after a decade at the helm he will leave Science and Mathematics this summer to become headmaster of a private school in Maryland.
Shirley Frye, the chairwoman of the school’s Board of Trustees and of its chancellor search committee, said Monday that the latter panel opted to retain a consultant when it met Thursday but did not choose a specific one. Four are under consideration: Sockwell Partners and the McAulay Firm, both of Charlotte, and Carney, Sandoe & Associates and Isaacson, Miller, both of Boston.
The 21-person committee asked a seven-person subcommittee to obtain more information about the candidate firms and to turn it over to Frye, the chairwoman said. She plans to make a final selection in time for a consultant to attend at least one of the three public forums scheduled for this week.
The first public forum, at which parents of students at the two-year state-run residential high school were invited to voice opinions on choosing the next chancellor, was held Saturday afternoon. A forum for Science and Mathematics staff is scheduled for this morning while one for faculty will take place this afternoon. Another staff forum will be held Friday at noon. (Forums for students and community members have also been scheduled for next week.)
Frye said that two key considerations in the selection will be the fee charged by the search firm and its experience handling secondary school leadership searches.
“We want a company that can be able to give us the best of the best,” Frye said. “We’re also looking at the financing part of it, and that will play a large role.”
The search committee’s next gathering will be April 6 at 10 a.m. Frye hopes that the body will be ready to schedule public forums in locations other than Durham and to finish developing the chancellor job specifications then.
A set of specifications that has not been formally approved is posted on the school’s chancellor search site, www.ncssm.edu/chancellor-search. It calls for, among other qualities, familiarity with residential institutions, extensive executive experience, passion for science, technology, engineering and math education, financial and strategic planning skills, an inclusive management style, and skill at securing and increasing resources.
The Web site is a work in progress; it has multiple links to an online chancellor search survey that has not yet been developed. That is another task that could be handled by the April 6 meeting.
Frye took a moment Monday to reiterate her views on the goals of the search.
“We’re trying not to replace Jerry Boarman, but we’re trying to find a person who will take the School of Science and Mathematics to greater heights,” she said. “Jerry did a wonderful job, and we just to want to take it further. We want it to go from good to exceptional.”
